1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to skates.
2. Description of the Art
Ice skates, roller skates and, more recently, in-line roller skates have been used by many for enjoyment as well as to play various sports, such as hockey. The recently popular in-line roller skates have also been used by serious hockey players for off season training as well as to play hockey using on a non-ice surface.
In all types of skates, the ice blades, the toe and heel roller skate assemblies, and the in-line assembly containing a plurality of urethane rollers are securely and generally permanently attached to the sole of a skate boot or shoe. This has resulted in the dedicated use of hockey skates, roller skates or in-line roller skates for a single activity or sport.
The advantages of providing such skates with easily attachable and detachable assemblies including ice blades, toe and heel roller assemblies, or an in-line roller assembly, has been noted and a large number of interchangeable or convertible skates have been devised. The use of such convertible skates provides the ability, in the case of ice skates and in-line roller skates, to easily switch between ice hockey and in-line roller skating without the need for and, more importantly, the expense of providing separate skate boots or shoes which represent a major part of the cost of a pair of ice skates or in-line roller skates. Thus, for example, a hockey player using a convertible skate could use the same pair of boots or shoes with ice blades to play ice hockey and then, with the removal of the ice blades and the attachment of an in-line roller assemblies to the same boot or shoe, to be able to use such in-line skates for exercise, enjoyment or to play hockey on a non-ice surface.
Such convertible skates also provide the user with an opportunity to have a second replacement set of ice blades, in-line roller assemblies, etc., for immediate use in the case of damage or dulling of the pair of blades or roller assemblies attached to the user's skate boots.
Although numerous convertible or replaceable skates have been previously proposed, the skate art still lacks a commercially viable convertible skate which meets the primary criteria of ease of attaching and detaching the blades or in-line roller assemblies to the skate boot and, more importantly, providing a rigid, secure attachment of the blade and roller assembly to the boot which does not exhibit any play or relative movement between the blade or roller assembly and the boot especially under the high forces imposed on the skate devices starting and stopping movements.
In conventional ice skates, in-line roller skates and even with certain types of convertible skates, fasteners, such as rivets, are commonly used to attach the ice blade, in-line rollers, etc., to the shoe sole. During use, and particularly during quick starts and stops, high lateral torque forces are exerted on the rivets which frequently results in damage or breakage of the rivets. This requires frequent replacement of the rivets or fasteners which at best is a time consuming process and renders the skate inoperative for the length of the repair process.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide lateral support means for use in a conventional ice skate, in-line skate, as well as a convertible skate receiving interchangeable use attachments which minimizes the effect of high lateral torque forces on the fasteners used to attach the blades or rollers to the skate shoe. It would also be desirable to provide such lateral support members on a skate in a manner in which the lateral support members do not interfere with the use or mounting of the blades or rollers to the skate shoe. It would also be desirable to provide a convertible skate in which use attachments are securely attached to the shoe body without any relative movement in either longitudinal or lateral directions, with respect to the shoe body.